Rest in peace, Pat Williams

I couldn't find a picture of Pat Williams
during his tenure with the Spartanburg
 Phillies, so you'll have to settle
 for this shot of me. - Rudy

The news of longtime NBA executive Pat Williams' death on Wednesday brought childhood memories flooding back to me.

Long before his distinguished NBA tenure, Williams burst onto the sports scene as an innovator and promotional genius with the Spartanburg Phillies of the Class A Western Carolinas League in the mid-1960s.

Those were my early teen years in Greenville when I was obsessed with everything baseball. That included scouring The Greenville News daily for Major League and WCL boxscores and standings.

Williams, in his mid-20s and a former player at Wake Forest, had made a quick transition from player to the front office in the Philadelphia Phillies' minor league organization.

One of his mentors was former major league owner Bill Veeck, who developed an exploding scoreboard after Chicago White Sox home runs and once sent 3-foot, 7-inch Eddie Gaedel to bat in a game.

“I drove up and Bill was sitting there on his porch reading a book,” Williams told The Sports Business Journal in 2013 of his first meeting with Veeck. “His shirt was off and so was his (prosthetic wooden) leg and he greeted me warmly. I left five hours later and it was the start of a 25-year friendship.”

Veeck had lost a leg during an artillery accident during World War II.  I became a fan of his when he ran the Chicago White Sox in the 1950s and early 1960s when many of their games were broadcast on WMRB in Greenville. I was reading Veeck's biography "Veeck - As In Wreck" while waiting for my son to be born in 1977.

Williams took a Veeck-like approach to promoting the S-Phils once he took over operations in 1965.

Spartanburg drew 46,113 fans in 1964. Williams' work resulted in an increase to 114,796 fans in 1965 at what he touted as "Beautiful Duncan Park." 

I never made it to a game in Spartanburg during Williams' tenure, but once I did visit I decided that "Historic" was a more apt term than "Beautiful" in describing Duncan Park's status. 

Most S-Phils home games featured some type of promotion. Games were broadcast on WSPA-AM by future Orioles and Twins announcer John Gordon, who joined Williams in touting Duncan Park as THE place to be in Spartanburg.

It didn't hurt that the S-Phils won - a lot.

The 1966 team went 91-35 and featured six future major leaguers, including the double play combo of Larry Bowa and Denny Doyle. Spartanburg finished five games ahead of a very good Greenville Mets team led by Nolan Ryan. The 1966 S-Phils were ranked the No. 78 minor-league team of all time by the National Association in 2001.

The 1966 S-Phils drew 173,010 fans, setting a record for a Class A team since the minor leagues had been reorganized a few years earlier. Greenville, by comparison, drew 59,078. Even more impressive was the record was set while pitted against the Braves' first season in Atlanta less than 200 miles away.

The 1967 Spartanburg club also won  the WCL title and drew 141,680 fans.

Williams then shifted to the NBA, taking his promotional style to the Philadelphia 76ers before moving on to the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls. One of promotions was "Blind Date Night," where fans could buy seats in a certain section and meet and greet other singles. After another stint with the 76ers, Williams was co-founder of the Orlando Magic. All told he was affiliated with the NBA for 51 years.

Every time I'd read of of Williams' accomplishments, I always thought of his days in Spartanburg.

Williams was a motivational speaker, a Sunday School teacher, wrote more than 100 books, ran in more than 50 marathons and climbed Mount Rainier. He and his wife had 19 children - 14 of whom were adopted from overseas. 

Family members said Williams died of complications from viral pneumonia. He was 84.

RIP, Pat Williams.